Mythology & Folklore

"The Ghost's Resentment" A Dakota tale tells the story of a man who warns his father and his father's two friends not to disturb the burial scaffold of a young Dakota man the father does not listen and says that he and his friends will go to the scaffold and cut off pieces of the burial tent to make robes because they have no robes the man asks his wife to fetch him a piece of white clay so that he may cover his skin with it - making himself look like a ghost the woman refuses and tells her husband to let the old men make their robes the man is persistent and she eventually gets the white clay the man whitened his whole body with the clay and went to the burial scaffold took a different route than the old men and traveled faster when he reached the burial scaffold the man climbed in the burial tent to wait for the old men when the old men reached the burial scaffold they decided to smoke a pipe with the deceased before cutting pieces of the tent t...

(Blackfoot Moccasins from crazycrow.com ) There once was a man who had two wives. The man thought his wives were lazy and wicked because his dinner was never cooked when he arrived home from the hunt. He did not recognize all that women had done for the Blackfoot people. The man took his complaint to the village elders in hopes that they would punish his wives. Instead, the chief woman sat him down and instructed him to listen to a story. She began… In the beginning, there were men and there were women, but the men and women did not yet know of each other. He who made us all created women and men separately. The men lived in one village and the women in another. The women and men were made differently. The men were strong and fast while the women were intelligent and cunning. The women were also strong and fast but the men more so. The women were the first to use the piskun - a pen at the foot of a cliff over which the buffalo were induced to jump - they were also knowle...

"The Smart Woman Chief" in this story it says that in the beginning women and men were made separately women were made first and had the most intelligence knew how to tan hides and make good clothing like moccasins were the first to use the piskun (an enclosure on the edge of a cliff that they drove buffalo into so that they would fall off of the cliff and die - a hunting method)  men were made second and were not as smart as the women but were physically stronger men and women did not know the other existed for a time lived in separate camps and never saw one another Old Man stopped at a men's camp and stayed there for awhile he was the first to discover women in his wanderings he came across two women herding some buffalo through their piskun over a cliff As Old Man drew closer to the women they became afraid because they did not know what he was - so they played dead when Old Man reached them he thought they were really dead and searched all over t...

"The Wolf Man" Blackfoot werewolf story a man with 2 wives wives are "wicked" do not cook, always away from home, unappreciative of the husband when he brings home meat husband decides to move away from the village in hopes that the wives will cook and do their duties if they have no one to socialize with the women are upset that they aren't near the village - decide to kill the man on a butte where the man usually sits atop a buffalo skull surveying the land the women dig a pit and cover it to camouflage the hole and place the buffalo skull over the pit the man goes to the butte to sit on the skull like he does every night falls into pit stuck in pit and thinks he will starve to death women leave and return to the village pretending to mourn wolves discover man in pit wolves, coyotes, foxes and other night predators decide to dig him out once the man is rescued the wolves invite him to be theri brother an old blind wolf heals the man...

"The Moon and the Stars" WEST AFRICAN DRAGON! Anansi and his son go out hunting Kweku Tsin, Anansi's son quickly kills a fine deer his father goes to fetch a basket to carry the meat home in takes a while, Kewku Tsin calls out to his father thinking he is lost a dragon answers instead of Anansi Kweku Tsin runs and hides in a cave Anansi comes back and asks what happened Anansi wants to see the dragon for himself dragon reappears because it smells human flesh captures Anansi and Kweku Tsin and takes them to his castle other prisoners are there guarded by the dragon's servant and great white rooster the rooster alerts the dragon whenever something happens like prisoners trying to escape Kweku Tsin comes up with a plan to escape makes a ladder and throws it up to heaven assured that the gods will anchor it the prisoners kill and eat many cows and save the bones distract the rooster with food also get a magic fiddle They throw the rope to heav...

( Orlando Jones as Anansi/Mr. Nancy in American Gods ) "Tit for Tat" This story tells of Anansi's greed there is a famine in the land  Anansi's son Kweku Tsin finds a good hunting place hunts the animals and sells the meat to hungry villagers  becomes rich from the sales Anansi becomes jealous of his son and is determined to find this hunting place Kweku Tsin will no tell his father because he knows of his father's wicked ways Anansi sneaks ashes into Kweku's bag and pokes a hole in it so that it'll make a trail for him to follow Anansi discovers Kweku's hunting place and kicks him out Kweku is determined to get his hunting place back Kweku Tsin makes a dummy-like image and hangs it in the path back from the hunting ground after Anansi has slaughtered the animals and is trying to return to his village to sell the meat he runs into this image thinks it is an angry god offers it some of his meat, then half of his meat, then all...

The Canvas Dashboard tip was so helpful! I have been kind of down on Canvas since OU started using it and it is honestly probably my resistance to change and not the system itself causing me to dislike it. This tip really helped give me ideas to organized my dashboard better. I have three English classes and I have trouble remembering which one is which by the course number alone and this tip helped me organized them to keep them straight. I color coded them to match the color of my folder and notebook for each class and I changed the names to the title of the class instead of the course number. I think I still prefer D2L but I am finally getting used to Canvas and how things work.

Looking back: I am happy with the stories I have produced this semester. I am also very happy with the readings, they're so interesting! I also love that I've been challenged to find creative ways to get what I want out of a story while staying under the 1,000-word limit. My weekly routine is always so varied. It's been getting more and more hectic. Looking forward: I want to get back into my routine. I have fallen off the rails a little bit and want to start doing things sooner rather than later. ( heavy.com ) ( memes.com ) And by red dot, Carl means the end of the semester. We got this, Carl. 

Feedback in: Overall, the feedback I have received has been positive. The longer constructive comments on the projects seem to be more helpful than the shorter, more social comments on the weekly stories. Feeback out: I also feel like the best comments I give are on the projects. It is much easier to give constructive feedback on a long-term project than it is a weekly story. You get to see what suggestions people have taken and watch their projects change and grow. Blog comments: I really like the blog comments and how they make an online class a little more personal. It is so hard to get to know your classmates by staring at a computer screen. I fancy myself pretty "old-school" when it comes to social interaction - I prefer face-to-face interaction rather than digital. Which is probably due to the fact that it is hard to get the whole scope of someone's personality solely based on their online presence. I like the introduction posts and the continued interaction wit...

Overall, I think my reading and writing for this class has been pretty strong. My writing more so than the reading. I have loved the readings themselves but I struggle with taking usable notes. My favorite story so far has been "The Secret Name of Ra." I really liked the original story and the re-telling that I wrote. I also really liked "The Rabbi's Bogey-Man," I liked being to create a steampunk-like story from this Jewish fairytale. I am very happy with how my project is going. At first, I thought I was going to do a portfolio but as soon as I figured out how the storybooks were going to work I knew I wanted to go with that option instead. I like being able to fiddle with the aesthetics of my website to convey the mood and setting of the story. I also like being able to craft my own tale using elements from many different mythologies about Dragons. To get more out of the readings and writings from this class I need to get better at note-taking. I am fairly ...

"The Man and the Ghost" A man walks down a steep mountain pass meets a ghost the ghost turns to walk with the man man is frightened  but didn't show the ghost The pair come to a river no boat or bridge to cross they must swim the man makes a lot of noise crossing - splashing etc. the ghost makes no noise at all ghost asks the man why he makes so much noise in the water the man replies: "Oh, I am a ghost and have a right to make all the noise I want to." ghost offers friendship and mutual aid man agrees the ghost asks the man what he is afraid of the man says nothing even though he is quaking inside the man asks the ghost the same question ghost says nothing but the wind blowing through the barley fields the come to a town the ghost says he is going into town the man says he is tired and lays down to sleep in a barley field the ghost wreaks havoc in town and steals the soul of the king's son brings the soul to the man in ...